HijacK: Do you even realize how dumb that sounds? So let me get this straight. Each generation sells more and more consoles and more and more video games, yet consoles are dying? I've heard elitist remarks before, but this one... this one is just too atrocious. I think people reached a point they just come up with stories out of their asses.
That is true. I think I've read some of the biggest far fetched "facts" in this thread.
UhuruNUru: Popularity is irrelevant it's the technical capabilities that will matter in the end. I don't even think the companies will die, but consoles can't cope with 4k Monitors and / or VR.
The tech is dying just like other formats have died, because they simply can't use more power and remain "consoles", 64-bit and 1080p is taxing them to the limit now and they're only just released.
With 4K taking off neither console will produce the Res demanded by that tech.
Even Titans are taxed by 4k screens. Same goes for VR which is already moving up to 1080p for each eye and will increase that as soon as they can. Either of these techs is enough to kill the consoles alone, combined it's almost certain.
If they try to up the power they hit the same issues Steam hit with the SteamBox. Needing more power requires bigger case more cooling bigger GPU, they become a PC in all but name, with the price tag to go with it.
All the advantages of consoles are then lost. The disadvantages are all that remain, no ones going to pay same price as a high end PC and have all the restrictions of console gaming on top.
VCR's were very Popular until made obsolete by DVD's then Blue Ray.
Vinyl became CD's then MP3 players.
Popularity is fleeting and quicly vanishes, when the tech no longer manages to do what we require.
Predicting future trends is difficult and they may find a new type of power source, that changes the equation but as things stand now more power means PC kit and cost, can they sell that to you.
$1K to 2K priced consoles or same for an unrestricted PC.
Marketing and hype can sell the consoles but when the tech fails to meet the expectations raised. Raising them next time is much harder.
To convince me I'm wrong will take more than "popularity". Actual ways the lack of power can be overcome, just to start with, Steam tried and ended up with PC's. They spent much more time and effort, on this issue, than either you or I.
As to formatting my post, I see very few options (Italic, Bold, Underline and Link) no full Text Editor, sure I could use raw BBCode but there's no standard format, guessing is not a good idea and I can't preview the post to test at all.
Walls of text, well at least you didn't claim TLDR then comment anyway., now that is much worse, I've never understood this aversion to reading long posts. To cover such a topic properly takes more than a few words.
So you're judging the life cycle of the consoles on the basis of power? That's ridiculous! People who play console games don't care about their power. They play them because they are a lot more convenient than PC gaming for them. And do you even know how few people are interested in 4k monitors or VR? Too few to matter. It will take a long time and HUGE price drops to attract consumers that don't care for such thing. Comparing the huge majority of people who have no interest in such thing with the few hardcore PC users that spend thousands of dollars on rigs, monitors and what not is such an erroneous miscalculation. And as far as I know, Sony are working on their own VR. And it appears that this VR is supported by their console. Hmmm, I wonder why? /endsarcasm
To put it bluntly, consoles never wanted and will never want to compete tech wise with 1-2k dollar PC. So why do you assume even everyone who games on PC is even interested in such a rig? Many play just out of convenience.
The thing is, consoles are made as dedicated gaming devices. They don't cost a lot and don't have the amount of power NASA's computers have because people who play them are not interested in that. And honestly, with 400 dollars today, you can barely build a PC that can get the same power as a Wii U. Let's not forget Nintendo are not ahead with the times too. But they are a great example. Their console doesn't have power, but once enough of their first party stuff is out it will sell like hot cakes. Same happened with the Wii. People who play consoles don't care about power. I know I don't.
